George Yang

Crunchyroll • September 4th, 2025

SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance Creative Director Ben Fiquet on Breathing New Life Into a Franchise He’s Loved Since Childhood

SEGA has recently taken the initiative to revive some of its classic and dormant IP, including Virtua Fighter and Crazy Taxi. One of them, the ninja action series Shinobi, just received its first brand new entry since 2011. SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance is a 2D action side-scrolling platformer that sees the return of series protagonist Joe Musashi. This time around, Streets of Rage 4 developer Lizardcube has taken the reins of the series to create SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance. The studio blended both classic platforming and action with modern art and control sensibilities to create a unique experience that feels both nostalgic and up-to-date.

Crunchyroll • August 15th, 2025

Game Director David Jaumandreu on Wanting a 90s Seinen Anime Aesthetic for NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound

The Ninja Gaiden series has seen a resurgence in 2025 with the release of NINJA GAIDEN Black 2 back in January and the recent launch of NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound last month. To top it all off, the next mainline entry, Ninja Gaiden 4, is set to release in October.

NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound sees the classic ninja series return to its 2D roots with sidescrolling action and nostalgic NES-style pixel art. While modern 3D games are all the rage these days, Koei Tecmo isn’t letting Ninja Gaiden’s history fall by the wayside and worked with developer The Game Kitchen (best known for the excellent 2D side-scrolling action game, Blasphemous) and publisher Dotemu to honor Ninja Gaiden’s 2D origins.

Crunchyroll sat down with NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound director David Jaumandreu to discuss how the development teams brainstormed the game’s ideas, characters and art style.

Anime News Network • July 31st, 2025

How No Sleep for Kaname Date Developers Gave the Game Its Name

During Anime Expo 2025, we got to sit down with Spike Chunsoft and talk about No Sleep For Kaname Date from AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES. It's the latest entry in the visual novel series. Director Kazuya Yamada and localization producer Alex Flagg answered our questions about certain game mechanics and how they came up with the game's name.

Stardust Magazine • July 29th, 2025

How H1-KEY's "Summer Was You" Became a K-pop Summer Hit

Ever since H1-KEY debuted in 2022, the four-member K-pop group has experimented with different sounds, from their bombastic Athletic Girl single album debut to the energetic and rebellious “Let it Burn” on last year’s more mature LOVE or HATE mini-album—because H1-KEY is always looking for new ways to express themselves.

Anime News Network • July 23rd, 2025

BAND-MAID's MIKU Kobato Talks About the Future and How the Band Decides on Album Names

With BAND-MAID taking a break from the middle of a nearly sold-out tour in Japan, Anime News Network had the opportunity to speak with its frontwoman, MIKU Kobato, at Anime Expo 2025.

Anime News Network • July 8th, 2025

Final Fantasy XVI Producer on the Series' Future

At Anime Expo 2025, Anime News Network got the chance to sit down with Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida to discuss how the series will progress in the future, as well as what he'd like to accomplish in the next several years.

Digital Trends • January 12th, 2025

This colorful Tetris variant is the gaming cooldown I needed

Last year, I played some difficult games. RPGs like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island put my skills to the test. While I found the Souls-inspired Black Myth: Wukong relatively easier compared to other games in its genre, some of the bosses still really gave me a hard time (looking at you, Yellow Wind Sage).

Rolling Stone • December 14th, 2024

Inside Pac-Man's Gritty New Redesign

There are very few gaming gaming characters as instantly recognizable across all of popular culture as Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, but Bandai Namco’s Pac-Man is one of them. The yellow fruit-eating circle’s iconic “waka-waka” eating soundbite is one of the most recognizable sounds in gaming. Debuting in 1980 in arcades (a full year ahead of Mario himself), Pac-Man is celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2025, although he’s sporting a very different look.

Rolling Stone • December 13th, 2024

'Split Fiction' Might Just Be the First Big Co-Op Game of 2025

It all started at The Game Awards 2017 when Hazelight Studios director Josef Fares said, “Fuck the Oscars” to an audience of millions of viewers. It was a funny and sobering moment in an otherwise advertisement-heavy show. After his profanity-filled yet otherwise innocuous speech, the show introduced a new gameplay trailer for the 2018 co-op game, A Way Out.

Rolling Stone • October 31st, 2024

'Dragon Age: The Veilguard' Is Bioware's Best Game in Ages. Here's How They Got There

It’s been a rough few years for Bioware. Originally known for making back-to-back (to back) RPG classics like Baldur’s Gate (1998), Neverwinter Nights (2002), and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003) — as well as two sprawling, epic franchises with Mass Effect and Dragon Age — the Canadian developers once seemed unstoppable.

Rolling Stone • October 30th, 2024

How the New 'Indiana Jones' Video Game Got Its Star

Todd Howard always wanted to create an Indiana Jones game. In 2009, the prolific director of titles like Fallout 3 came close, pitching an Indiana Jones game to LucasArts, the video game subsidiary arm of Lucasfilm. However, the collaboration didn’t end up happening.

Digital Trends • September 24th, 2024

How Heihachi lives on in Tekken 8, even after death

When Heihachi Mishima was revealed to be Tekken 8’s next DLC character, I was both surprised and not surprised. The series antagonist was killed off in the previous entry, Tekken 7, by being thrown into a volcano, but miraculously survived somehow. The only thing stronger than death is DLC, I suppose.

Rolling Stone • August 21st, 2024

With 'King of Meat,' Amazon Games Goes Where Google Couldn't

For the past two decades, modern gaming has been dominated by a few platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC. With the four platforms in a competitive gridlock over the years, it was difficult for a new player to break in on equal footing or innovate.

Rolling Stone • August 1st, 2024

'Tekken' Director Katsuhiro Harada Won't Add Waffle House to the Game (Yet)

Few fighting game series have the longevity and popularity of Tekken. From its inception in 1994, its core gameplay mechanics have stayed consistent through many iterations, while also building upon it with updated features. This allowed for the movement, skill, and knowledge that players accumulated throughout the years to carry over with each new entry.

Anime News Network • June 20th, 2024

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Team Discuss Updating the Series After 25 Years

The Fatal Fury series made its debut in 1991 with Fatal Fury: King of Fighters around the time when other fighting game franchises were starting to appear or hit their stride. The biggest ones we know and love today, including Street Fighter, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat, came from that era. While those had new iterations every several years and kept consistent, Fatal Fury's last entry was Garou: Mark of the Wolves in 1999.

Anime News Network • June 20th, 2024

DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO Producer Explains the Long Wait for More

The Dragon Ball franchise is one of the most recognizable properties in the world, with a variety of manga, TV shows, and video games created out of it. The Dragon Ball Sparking video game series was incredibly popular in Japan. Known as Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi series internationally, it garnered fans around the globe to where there were three separate mainline entries for the PlayStation 2 and a spin-off for the PlayStation Portable.
However, the series seemingly ended in 2010, with no m...

Rolling Stone • June 20th, 2024

How Hidetaka Miyazaki Made 'Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree,' His Biggest Expansion Yet

Elden Ring was undoubtedly 2022’s Game of the Year, winning numerous awards across different shows and publications. With its dark fantasy atmosphere, punishing combat, and challenging difficulty, players keep coming back for more. It was also developer FromSoftware’s first open-world game, so it needed to have more content than any game that the studio had made before.

Game Developer • June 18th, 2024

Pocketpair CEO: Palworld owes its success to automation mechanics

Palworld was one of the first surprise hits of 2024. It entered early access in January and had sold over 15 million copies on Steam by February. It also reached over 10 million players on Xbox. In April, developer Pocketpair revealed that players spent a collective 1.3 billion hours playing the game, which equates to 150,000 years.

Game Developer • June 12th, 2024

Astro Bot makes the tech demo mascot into leading bot material

PlayStation has found its very own cute platformer mascot in the modern age with Astro, the hero of the Astro Bot series from developer Team Asobi. He burst onto the scene in 2018 with the critically acclaimed Astro Bot: Rescue Mission for PS4 and PlayStation VR. His follow-up adventure, Astro’s Playroom, was released in 2020 and came pre-installed with every PS5 console.

Game Developer • June 12th, 2024

Making Ubisoft's open world model work for Star Wars Outlaws

For years, Ubisoft has been known for its open-world game formula, complete with large sprawling maps, a litany of side quest markers, and landmarks for players to discover. This formula can be seen across most of Ubisoft’s biggest franchises, including Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Far Cry. In a quest for seemingly endless content, Star Wars Outlaws looks to be following in those footsteps. However, it can be a challenge to fill such big worlds with more intimate, tightly knit stories.

Digital Trends • May 29th, 2024

You know cyberpunk. Now let Nine Sols introduce you to ‘Taopunk’

A studio known for creating horror games pivoting to a new genre isn’t unheard of. After all, Tango Gameworks shifted from creating games such as The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo to the goofy and colorful Hi-Fi Rush. The Taiwan-based studio Red Candle Games followed a similar trajectory on the way to its newest game, Nine Sols.

GameSpot • May 22nd, 2024

How Until Then Showcases The Beauty Of Filipino Culture

The Philippines-based Polychroma Games is set to release the narrative adventure game Until Then later this year. It follows a young teenager named Mark in the Philippines as he goes through the trials and tribulations of high-school life, such as hitting deadlines and making presentations.

NME • February 2nd, 2024

8TURN on their new mini-album ‘STUNNING’: “We're not trying to be someone who we aren’t”

K-pop has become more popular than ever and the scene shows no signs of slowing down, from a notable presence at this year’s Coachella festival to a slew of major world tours. The pressure to stand out is more immense than ever, but as boyband 8TURN exclaim in their group greeting: “Whose turn? 8TURN!”

The New York Times • January 9th, 2024

Unfinished Video Games Are Turning Into Hits

The scope of the video game Vampire Survivors grew considerably during its early access period, in which players gave feedback to the studio.

When players buy games in early access, they can give studios both valuable feedback and a crucial revenue stream.